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Espy

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Blog Entries posted by Espy

  1. Espy

    Soul:R (Drum and Bass label showcase)

    By Espy,


    D&B music label showcase
    I kinda forgot to post about this one!
    Music label showcase: Soul:R / Revolve:r

    Soul:R (pronounced like "solar" and also written as Soulr) was a drum and bass label founded and ran by Marcus Intalex & ST Files since 2001, primarily releasing a variety of liquid funk and techstep. It also ran alongside sister label Revolve:r as well as hosting Soul:ution club nights.
    Revolve:r in particular started releasing drum and bass, but quickly shifted to releasing some dubstep and techno by the end of it's lifespan.
     
    It's considered as one of the best drum and bass labels of all time but unfortunately shut down operations in 2017/2018 after the sudden death of Marcus Intalex. (Cause of death is publicly unknown; I believe the label Metalheadz handles business for them now, they just don't release anything new on Soul:R out of respect other than remasters and new vinyl record prints of older releases.)
     
    It's tough to separate Soul:R from Marcus Intalex. His first love was actually with techno, but he got dragged into what was jungle at the time and began releasing music (as a collab with Mark XTC and L Double) under the name Da Intalex (What Ya Gonna Do - 1994) before his legendary collabs with ST Files (How You Make Me Feel - 1999; Just A Vision (Remix) - 2000; Universe - 2001, just to name a few).
    How You Make Me Feel is actually considered as one of the first "liquid funk" tracks to be released, right before the 2000's hit. It was much different than what many other artists were releasing at the time which made it stand out a lot. Actually, the B side to it is Neptune, which is a lot more representative of what was dominating drum and bass.
    They also released Taking Over Me during this time on Hospital Records.
    Also, they made the song Smart Systems for the game Wipeout Pulse, which I've heard is one of the best songs ever made for the franchise.
     
    What's funny is that he and ST Files didn't get along at first. Afaik, they worked at a record shop together for a while and their rave music tastes didn't fit together mostly. Marcus Intalex preferred darker sounding stuff while ST Files liked brighter cheesier stuff, but eventually they got along.
    Later on, Marcus Intalex would make a turn towards more techno-related works under the alias Trevino and ran the label Birdie.
    And unexpectedly he passed away in 2017. A book was written about him called How You Make Me Feel, which I still need to grab and read for myself.
    The Marcus Intalex Music Foundation was set up afterwards, also ST Files started a label called Br:nk with two releases: Grow and Astral Plane, both done with Calibre. There have also been some postmortem releases, the most recent being an older collab with Mako called Keep Your Cool which was released quite recently.
     
    But anyways, back to Soul:R.
    The name itself didn't have much thought put into it. Afaik it's literally just the word soul stylized with a colon and an R at the end of it because it was the 2000's, everything needed to look cool like that.
    Alongside the M.I.S.T duo, they featured artists like Calibre, D.Kay & DJ Lee, DJ Marky & XRS, High Contrast, Sonic & Silver, Martyn, Phil Tangent, and LSB, to name a few.
    It's got one of the most powerful lineups ever as well as being one of the least controversial lineups, relatively speaking.
    I personally don't feel a single bit grimy with buying from any of these artists and the label as a whole. A lot of other labels have some sort of controversy or some issue that an artist gets involved in (ranging from the label not paying their artists properly, to some artists becoming insufferable pricks), but that isn't the case here.
    Well, maybe other than Commix... who scammed some people and has a drug addiction apparently (that's probably why he scammed people). But it used to be a trio, then a duo, then a solo project when the 2010's passed by.
     
    They also ran an online radio show called Soul:ution Radio. I don't know when it ended but it definitely started in the early 2000's. Pretty much playing and promoting music from inside the studio, quite standard.
     
    But yeah, here's the playlist, combining both Soul:R and Revolve:R. Enjoy! 
     
    This Ain't Love is one of my favorites now btw, I love it a lot!
     
  2. Espy
    So firstly I want to say that I'm feeling so much better than before, well other than a bit of coughing sometimes. 
     
    Secondly, in my last blog post I hinted at what I was going to do going forward concerning finances.
    The plan is to sell mostly prebuilt gaming computers and the occasional separate component if I'm unable to use it myself. 
    I already have some stuff that can still catch a decent chunk of money, so if I basically put that all together I can use it as a starter capital of sorts. I already sold a Ryzen 7 5800X for $100 to a family friend. It's under what the average selling price is for that CPU but they said one of their friend's birthday was coming up and they wanted to try streaming games, asked if I had any spare parts that could do that, so I let them have this one.
    I'm probably also going to take some time to buy broken/for parts components and seeing if I can fix them up. I actually do have a GPU that I could fix but first I would need to source a donor card for that or some spare parts, whatever I can find for it.
    Any completely broken/bricked components I will just put in a bulk pile and sell it to a local electronics recycler. I have a 512 GB SSD that unfortunately gets ridiculously hot no matter what and locks up, which makes it unusable. I also have 2 motherboards where the pins are screwed up too badly for me to attempt to fix (I salvaged the wifi card from one of them at least). Those will be the first to be in that pile.
    As for everything else, I'm still looking into stuff like shipping and financials, and inventory management. With shipping, I told my family that they can give me any of those soft foam, bubble wrap and air packs from any packages, even larger boxes, so I can save money on some shipping materials.
    I found a decent spreadsheet template for inventory management but it was kinda incomplete for some reason, so I've been editing it for my use. There is a small problem though where it's having an issue with one of the formulas ignoring everything except for the first data given on one of the pages. I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure it out that I might just add cells manually instead of have it do everything automatically. It's inconvenient but it works for now.
     
    Anyways it seems like the target is to be around $300 - $600 and market it for games like Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft... though the first system should be higher around $800 at least.
    That shouldn't be too difficult (hopefully) as long as I put RGB lights everywhere it should be fine.
    All of the systems will have Windows 11 (since so much software supports it by default), so the components will support it by default at minimum. That should be Intel 8th gen/AMD Ryzen 2000 at a minimum. As for GPUs, Nvidia said recently that they will end driver support for the GTX 10 series. And, AMD already ended driver support (I think) for RX 500 series a year ago(?) so I kinda need to get rid of this RX 580 and 590 sooner than later, market it for Esports or something. Then, just look for RTX 20 series, GTX 16 series for Nvidia at a minimum, and RX 5000 series for AMD at a minimum.
    Other things I noticed based on bad reviews from other sellers is that people expect wifi and bluetooth with everything, so that has to come by default. They also sell PC's with parts that are too old to run new games for way too much money, and they are misleading and vague with what's inside it on the listing ("Intel I7 and Nvidia GTX" doesn't really give too much info). You have to scroll down to the description to find out that they're still vague on the CPU. They will say something like "Intel i7 Quad Core" pair it with some very cheap, underpowered GPU and charge like $500 for the whole thing. I don't think that's fair, they're selling something that isn't even worth more than $200 honestly.
    Oh, and systems should come with 1 TB SSD's by default because of games being quite large now, a 500 GB will barely be enough. I can get those for $40 - $50 which isn't too bad.
    I want to be as fair as I can be and make sure nobody is disappointed for the price they paid.
     
    Lastly, here's a freebie song for sticking around and reading this post, just a little exclusive gift for MLPF. 
    You can (should be able to) click on the 3 dots and download the MP3. It's called "Puffing Clouds" and is DnB, of course. I made this about a week or two before I got sick.

    2024-Dec-18 Espy Vibe - Puffing Clouds [FREE].mp3   There's so much to do and so little time!
  3. Espy
    Hey everyone, I'm not totally gone!
    If you haven't noticed, I disappeared within the first or second week of January this year. I was supposed to announce the winners of the last art contest but couldn't get around to it, so thank you @Dynamo Pad for doing it for me and congrats to everyone involved!
     
    So, where have I been?
    I've just been very, very sick.
    To keep it as short as possible, I'd gotten sick since this new years started. I think I picked it up from my sister and her boyfriend because they were coughing a lot after they were at some Christmas and New Years parties.
    It started with the usual symptoms of a cold, but after a few days I'd gotten better! Well, except for two things: mucus and coughing. Both got progressively worse to the point that I was vomiting every night and my side was hurting from the coughing! I tried a lot of remedies like teas and cough drops, but unfortunately none of them really worked to help control my coughing this time.
    I went to urgent care where they told me that I probably had influenza at first and then I got bronchitis not long after. So, the latter is what I've been suffering and recovering from currently.
    It's now about a week or two after I was diagnosed and prescribed medication to deal with the bronchitis and now I'm feeling much better. I'll try to spare you from the nasty details, but I'll just say that it was satisfying when I started to cough up all of that nasty mucus, and I know my own body was happy to get it out of there. The amount of mucus I have now is a lot lower and is not those very nasty and concerning colors anymore.
    I'm still recovering but I can get back to trying to do more things at least.
     
    Now for the life update: I lost my day job while I was going through this sickness.
    My now former job laid me off with the reasoning that they're struggling financially and they had to let me go because of it. Of course I have my opinions on how they can bring money back into their business, but they should've figured that out long ago because it's so obvious what they could do. I don't really want to rant and vent here, they've got a lot of issues that's their fault and no one else's and I'm sick of being the one to get that burden. 
    Anyways, it's fine by me since I was already going to be leaving later this year but only when I had a good plan. Unfortunately, right now that plan isn't realized at all so I need to figure something out. I may end up working for myself here.
    I have a few ideas and I think I know which one I'll go for as a primary source of income. It's not going to be music, which I'll still be doing but it's such a rough industry that it's unrealistic to have it as a primary source of income for myself.
    Speaking of which, I have some big plans regarding my music but it's still too soon to really talk about it, so that will be a surprise for later.
     
    It's late now and I need to get some water and lay down again. I hope you're all doing well. I'll try my best to catch up with everyone!
     
  4. Espy
    I'm back with another remix!
    Despite my ears being a little sensitive right now, I couldn't really hold back on this one. I've been catching up slowly with music by the fandom and when I heard this ambient track by Kyradeen, I thought it deserved the liquid DnB treatment. So, here it is 
     
    Here's the original, definitely give it a listen especially if you're into ambient stuff:
     
    Thank you @Ice Princess Silky <3 for letting me use your artwork for this upload. I was looking for some background artwork and found this one by her actually out of the blue, and thought it fit well with the remix.  It's a really nice piece, you should draw way more!
     
    Now some info about other related things:
    I spent some time making a fresh new starter template for myself to be more productive, that way everything I usually reach for is ready to go so I can save time and get to making stuff! I also took the time to really go through everything that I have and slim down everything to what I actually use. This remix is the first one with that new layout. Here's what it looks like:
    This remix was also me trying out a reverb plugin I'd never used before called SunBurnt. I used the free one by unplugred and it sounds really good! It added a dreamy and ethereal shimmer on top of Late Night Sketch and I'm super happy with how it turned out after some tweaking, definitely keeping this one around and might hop for the paid one to get rid of that little nag text at the bottom.
     
    The only thing I'm looking for now is weird but useful plugins. Like this thing, but this is just volume LFO (at least it's free?) and that's so easy to do.
    That's all for now. I forgot about that writeup on another record label, which I will get to eventually, but you can peep the playlist I made in preparation for it here:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWLPDWHwfbIAyGef6cGTVay1R3jEhqCpy
     
     
  5. Espy

    Creative Source (Drum & Bass label showcase)

    By Espy,


    D&B music label showcase
    Music label showcase: Creative Source

    Creative Source is an inactive Drum & Bass record label that I want to share with everyone!
    But first, let's get this out of the way: a meme in 2022 took the internet by storm for a hot minute, entitled "sims cat break-dancing", which was remixed countless times in various ways.
    This is relevant because it became associated with a song that was released on Creative Source in 1996: "Only You" by Intense.
     
    So, you may have already been introduced to this record label without knowing!
    Now, let me tell you why this record label is more important than you may initially think.
    Ready for a history lesson?
     
    After DJs Fabio and Grooverider (who both are credited as the "founders" of the Jungle and Drum & Bass scene; that's a story for another day) were told that their 'Rage' nights at the Heaven nightclub would come to a close due to growing concerns and liabilities over an unfortunate increase in attracted criminal activity in 1993, most people made their way to clubs like Paradise (used to be located in Islington, North London) for their fix of Breakbeat Hardcore, Jungle and other related rave styles of the day.
    Meanwhile, not keen on the violent direction that Jungle had taken, the incorrect assumption that "all Jungle is ragga", and wanting an outlet to play out more musical works rather than the relatively chaotic nature of Jungle without getting boo'd by the crowd, Fabio joined forces with LTJ Bukem to run 'Speed' nights to showcase said music. It started off very slow (on a Thursday night) but quickly gained a large audience. These nights would be renamed to 'Swerve' as the 2000s approached. (I don't know the name of the club but it was ran by Nicky Holloway.)
    While LTJ Bukem would establish Good Looking Records (aka GLR; lots of actual drama around this one for another day) to release what would become an empire for what the media of the time would call Intelligent Jungle / Drum & Bass (and Atmospheric Jungle / Drum & Bass), Fabio would establish Creative Source to showcase the "same" style of musical Jungle, but with their own key differences.
    To put it simply, LTJ Bukem's GLR would showcase music that was very space-like and ethereal, while Fabio's Creative Source would tone down on the spacey effects and kept everything relatively funky and "raw" (if that makes any sense).
    They would both release music that would help inspire video game developers to include their interpretation of this style of Drum & Bass. For anyone that likes looking up mixes online, I'm sure you've seen stuff like "PS1 Drum & Bass mix." Well, if you like that then you'll love to know that these two labels (and some others, like Moving Shadow) are the origin of that kind of music!
    Anyways, as the 2000s approached, Jungle was getting a negative name, so "Drum & Bass" was used to describe the same music. It's like the same guy but wearing a fancy suit! Also, Drum & Bass was losing popularity to UK Garage due to aforementioned issues mostly involving violence and a growing "dark" and overly-technical sound (i.e. neurofunk, darkstep, techstep, jump up, etc.), GLR was losing it's entire roster due to aforementioned drama plus audiences losing interest in the ethereal sound they were known for, and generally people saying Drum & Bass was "dead".
    Sometime between 1998 - 2000, Fabio came across the term "liquid funk" used by a US Hip Hop group, Tha Alkaholiks, for their song "Likwidation", and he used it in both his "Liquid Funk" compilations and BBC 1 Radio slot. He thought it was funny how they used it, but also thought it was a perfect way of describing that style of Drum & Bass he loves and wanted to promote since basically 1993.
     
    Just as quickly, he caught wind of a producer named Calibre, who had actually previously met with LTJ Bukem but didn't receive a follow up for any releases. Fabio picked him up very quickly and signed him to Creative Source, starting with the game changing release of "Mystic / Feelin" in 2000. Calibre is known for creating so many songs at a quick pace that a good majority of Fabio's DJ sets would have what's known as "dubplates", or unreleased works, by Calibre. It got to the point where Liquid Funk = Calibre productions for a long while!
    Since then, Calibre will occasionally release these on his "Shelflife" compilations on his personal label, Signature Recordings, which he set up between 2003 - 2004 to be more independent. (He and Fabio are on good terms, don't worry!)
    Of course, this is to not discredit the other artists released on this label!
    Outside of the UK, it reached huge popularity in places like Japan and Brazil, and kept the Drum & Bass flame going in terms of popularity outside of the underground; it wasn't "dead" like people were saying in the late 90s. Nowadays, Liquid Funk is simply known as Liquid, or Liquid Drum & Bass.
    History lesson over! That's about as condensed as I can possibly make it. There's more to it but it kind've deserves it's own post.
    Creative Source: led by DJ Fabio, it featured feel-good Funk, Disco, House, R&B, and Jazz-influenced Drum & Bass releases, starting with the release of "Heaven / Carlito's Way" by Carlito in 1995, and ended with the release of "Dystopia / House Groove" by Sato in 2010. It would also become the birthplace of the 2000s Liquid Funk sound.
    Some works have been officially digitized, but a good chunk of the discography is on vinyl only unfortunately.
    As it's one of my big inspirations, I put together a playlist on Youtube showcasing their releases for the curious (open the spoiler):
    Note: for some reason, there was a mixup at the pressing plant for Q-Project "Slow Down / Spectrum City" and Fellowship "The Abyss / The Jam". It's actually the other way around! The labels got swapped between Q-Project and Fellowship, no idea what happened but it is what it is, so please keep that in mind :v
    Also unfortunately, there's one track missing.
    The missing single is "Face To Face" by Random Movement, released in 2007. It's not something I have on hand right now, but maybe in the future I or someone else will upload the full length of it.
    I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! 
  6. Espy

    Defunked (Drum & Bass label showcase)

    By Espy,


    D&B music label showcase
    Music label showcase: Defunked

    Defunked is a now defunct (lol) Drum & Bass record label that I want to share with everyone!
    Led by producer and DJ Fellowship, it helped showcase the ever-growing sound of Liquid Funk (coined and pushed by DJ Fabio; now simply known as "Liquid" or "Liquid Drum & Bass") through feel-good Funk, Disco, House, R&B, and Jazz-influenced releases, starting with the release of  "Pure Funk (From Us To You) / Heavy Pain" by Solid State in 2000, and ended with the release of "Yours Truly / House Thing" by Camo & FX 909 in 2007 (though, that only saw white label promos).
    While it wasn't the only label to push this sound (Creative Source, Soul:R, Liquid V / V Recordings, Good Looking Records, etc. were bigger names at the time), it made an huge underground impact the second it came onto the scene and quietly fizzled away without fanfare.
    The best way to describe their music is that it's fun!
    As it's one of my big inspirations, I put together a playlist on Youtube showcasing their releases for the curious (open the spoiler):
    Unfortunately, there's a single missing (well, two if you want to count these "white label" remixes by Fellowship) but otherwise it's basically everything they released.
    The missing single is "Reveal It / Off The Grid" by Kubiks & Lomax, released in 2005. There's an AMV edit and an upload that for some reason is 10 minutes long instead of the actual length, so I didn't include those. It's not something I have on hand right now, but maybe in the future I or someone else will upload the full length of both tracks.
    I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! 
  7. Espy

    music A DnB remix for your Nightmare Night

    By Espy,


    released music
    Here's a remix I released earlier today of Luna's Nightmare by SpinScissor and Color & Flow! I remembered after a quick nap that I needed to share it here, so I hope you enjoy 
     
     
     
    Here's the original:
     
     
    I'm working on some more original pieces but I have to take a bit of a break until further notice unfortunately.  Last night, I'd forgotten to turn the volume down for my headphones before watching a meme video where the audio got very loud for a split second. My left ear has a little ringing to it (originally stuck around for about an hour after the incident but today it's been mostly absent) and I noticed immediately that frequencies feel a little quieter and sometimes muffled, and I'm more sensitive to certain sounds (like as I'm typing this, the normal typing I do throbs and hurts my head, so instead I'm slowly typing D:). So, yeah... so unfortunate but it's my fault for not turning my headphone's volume back down to where I usually have it. 
    My right ear is relatively okay, which I'm thankful for at least.
  8. Espy
    New remix is up on pony.fm! This is a liquid DnB remix ("bootleg") of YOUR EMOTIONS by DJ LUCKY. It's not pony but I love the vibe of the original and thought it could work as liquid DnB too 
    (link if embed doesn't work: https://pony.fm/tracks/47363-dj-lucky-feat-khodiel-your-emotions-espy-vibe-bootleg)
     
    "Bootleg" is the term I'm using for my unofficial (unsanctioned) remixes that I'm doing. Pony music peeps will be ok with "remix" but I feel like anyone outside won't like it since it implies it's official, but anyways...
    Music video of the original, it's a great mellow Chicago footwork/juke track (warning! flashing lights):
     
    I'll upload this to my new YT channel at some point if you prefer listening to it there (which you can check out here: https://www.youtube.com/@espyvibe/featured)
     
    More to come! I'm kind've on a remixing rush, so we'll see what's coming next 
  9. Espy
    Music!!
    I heard this song by Hay Tea, called "Balefire Symphony," and IMMEDIATELY I thought it needed a remix! Thanks HT for providing the stems in the description, it made it a lot easier to work with 
    You can listen to my remix below on pony.fm:
    (link if it fails to embed: https://pony.fm/tracks/47358-hay-tea-balefire-symphony-espy-vibe-remix)
    You can listen to the original by Hay Tea here:
     
    Also, I made an original drum and bass track prior to this called "Miss Maverick" which you can listen to here:
    (link if it fails to embed: https://pony.fm/tracks/47330-miss-maverick)
    I don't usually like to make big promises, but these are the first of many to come! Most of what I'll be releasing is liquid DnB; ideally what I'd like to be making are the really, really funky liquid stuff (liquid funk!) rather than the very cinematic and deep stuff like the above, but whatever happens will just happen, and I'm okay with that. 
    I will upload the above and future tunes later on a YT channel dedicated to Espy Vibe music, but right now I'm feeling a bit lazy in terms of making and uploading videos :v
    Any feedback is welcome, by the way!
     
    What about that name change?
    Yes, that's not "Trot Shuffle," who's this "Espy Vibe" person? Well, I did a name change because it turns out that there's 2 pony artists already in the pony music scene: "Trot" and "Shuffle" and it would've been confusing  so I've changed to a different name!
    I can't find this Trot person right now, but here's Shuffle on YT: https://www.youtube.com/@shuffle2129
    "Espy Vibe" comes from an unreleased track by my favorite producer Calibre, called "SP Vibe"; here's a clip of it from 2003 played out by the legendary DJ Fabio:
    "Espy" is also a word that's close to "SP" and has the meaning of catching sight of something. Mash together "espy" with "SP Vibe" and you get "Espy Vibe!" Catch this vibe, right? 
    I think this time it really stands out as it's acting as the name for my pony OC, which I'm still refining currently, and my actual artist name. Also, I'm beginning to work on the details of some exciting stuff related to all of this but that may come in the future. More on that later when it's ready... 
     
    Anyways, hope you enjoy because I surely did while making them! 
     
  10. Espy

    Audio plugins I like using (so far)

    By Espy,


    music production
    In an effort to slim down on hard drive space, I've been making some time to keep the plugins that I've been finding myself using more often than others. There are many I have that are very redundant and I need more space to keep projects and such open for. 
    So, I thought it'd be cool to quickly talk about a few of these plugins that I like the most! Of course, some of this will change over time so it would be interesting to see if these stick around in my main toolbox or not 
    Unfortunately, I do have to name products by their full names (like cars for instance) and provide screenshots of the interfaces, since a lot of people and companies name products the same thing and this is the only way to distinguish them.  Screenshots are credited based on where I grabbed the pics for them.
     
    My DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) of choice has and will always be FL Studio. It has it's little quirks and annoyances (automation could generally be more intuitive, loading times could be improved, recording could be a bit better and I kinda don't like Edison, and plugin crashes = program locks up = ANNOYING) BUT... I enjoy the freedom they give.
    I love that their business model is "We don't care if you pirate our program, but just know that if you buy a license you keep access to it permanently with free lifetime updates," and they've kept their word for 20 years! Though I do wish we didn't have to keep downloading their installer to perform updates... why can't we just update directly from the program? Other software is able to do that so that's a mystery to me.
    Also FL Studio can be loaded into other DAW's as a plugin. I heard of lots of people using Reaper doing this just for the MIDI functionality in FL. It's super interesting, but really cool that they leave options open.
     
    But anyways here we go... in no particular order!
    My Must Haves
    (FL) Patcher
    Patcher is very modular and allows for almost infinite connections of any instrument and effect however I want it to be in the Map tab. Any and all parameters can be connected together and controlled with custom sliders and dials which are on the Surface tab. It's great for keeping organized automations and other more advanced effects which could get really messy really fast.
    I found myself preferring to keep all the mess "hidden" so I don't have to stare at a million automation tracks. It comes built into FL Studio and is super handy and deserves more love, it's like making your own plugin without having to code anything. 
    I know there's third party alternatives like this, but I can't remember the names of them right now unfortunately 
     
    Xfer Serum
    I know FL Studio comes with some great and powerful synths, such as Harmor and Sytrus, and I've used plenty of synths before, however I just find myself always reaching for Serum. It's super intuitive for me to use and quickly get sounds that I'm looking for. It's been around for a long time now and is well known, super worth the purchase.
    But if you can't afford it and don't want to torrent a cracked copy of it (highly recommended to not pirate it anyways, you risk malware and if you get some record deals and they see what you have in the project, they won't work with you and may tell others to stay away from working with you because that's messy legal territory for them), then try the free version of Vital! It's the same thing as Serum, just as powerful, and is free! The paid tiers there just give you access to more built in wavetables, presets, and that text-to-wavetable feature, but that's all optional since you can import your own wavetables and presets freely.
    Anyways, yeah. Everything can be made from this thing, though I tend to stick to pads and subby reese basses currently 
     
    Plugin Boutique Scaler 2
    This has been a really good tool to use for times when I'm stuck on melodies and chords. It's a great way to see and hear many chords, scales, and playing styles as well as get ideas for them. I can't understate how much help this has been for me. The best part is I know what notes I want to play, but sometimes I can't name the scale. It allows me to record those notes in and it will respond back with the exact scale I'm playing in, shows me what notes correspond to the scale, and has other scales that are similar that I could consider. It comes with tons of playing styles too, mostly for sketching purposes. Helps to get melody ideas down!
    It also has more MIDI sequencing stuff but I don't really use those, I stick to the basic piano roll for my MIDI stuff right now. And, if I needed to, I feel using FL's MIDI sequencing tools would be far better.
    (also it has guitar tabs for the guitarists out there, I can't speak on how good or bad it is though.)
    I highly highly recommended for anyone, experienced and newbies alike since it's such a great music theory tool. It keeps a place forever for sure, at least for me! 
    Captain Chords is another good one as well, though that's aimed more at EDM and Hip Hop producers instead where Scaler is aimed towards everyone.
     
    (FL) Fruity Delay 2
    Very simple delay effect, great for quick "dub-like" delays and such. Really easy to dial in a good sound that I love! Comes with FL Studio.
     
    Plugin Alliance/Brainworx/Looptrotter SA2RATE 2
    I've been using this more recently, but I've found that it helps add a more professional-sounding character/saturation to a full mix. I just wish the "Magic" dials were called something else. Otherwise, really awesome to use 
     
    Integraudio/Sixth Sample Deelay
    For more experimental delays, this one is great for that. It offers lots of functionality and sounds great for being completely free. There are multiple modes as well, like reverse and REVERSE CHAOS! Very fun, very good. If you need a single delay plugin that can do it all, this is the one! 
    There's also the upgraded version that can be purchased, but that adds some functionality that I don't see myself using right now.
     
     
    TDR VOS SlickEQ GE
    Great analog-style EQ. Simple controls and I found it to be good for broader final touches like the aforementioned SA2RATE 2. I have the GE version, which builds on top of the already very good free version, and the EQ-matching using a source file feature (i.e. a song you're referencing) is super cool! The graph is also interesting and helpful, though it's encouraged to not look at it for these types of EQ's.
    VOS (Variety Of Sound) also has some quality freeware plugins, but as far as I know they are Windows only! Tokyo Dawn also has many great freeware plugins too, with the GE versions expanding on them to add more functionality 
     
     
    TDR Kotelnikov GE
    I found this to be good on my drum bus, as a glue compressor. I was using one of Waves' plugins for this purpose (one of their SSL emulations), but I didn't really want to support Waves after they had a bit of a fiasco (they reverted what they were going to do... for now... but they wanted to get rid of all current licenses in exchange for a full subscription service to use their now-"meh" plugins.. no thanks), plus this one sounded a bit better to me. Simple controls, great sound. Not much else to say other than it has a slimmed down free version like SlickEQ!
     
     
    Plugin Alliance/ADPTR Streamliner
    Great metering tool to use while performing final mastering as it has information for dynamic range and loudness for major streaming platforms. Very handy and great tool!
     
    ChowdhuryDSP CHOW Tape Model
    Very good (and free) tape saturation effect! It can emulate just about any tape machine that can be imagined, or specific characteristics of them. I've been experimenting on where to place it, but I've been liking putting it on the master channel lately. Gives it a bit of a vintage, or lo-fi, feel.
    ChowdhuryDSP has lots of other great free plugins as well, definitely worth giving a shot if you haven't!
     
    I think that's about it right now. I'm still on the fence with some other plugins and need more time to try them out. And yes I am considering the FabFilter plugins too, I know they're the golden standard! Perhaps their EQ since FL Parametric EQ 2 feels quite limiting for what I need. But, who knows.
    If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations, I'd love to hear them! 
     
  11. Espy

    music What I'm Listening To: #2

    By Espy,


    Crate digging
    This is the 2nd entry here!
    Maybe you'll find something new to add to your own personal playlists? Who knows 
    Open the spoilers to listen!
     
    Artist(s): Jessy Lanzo, DJ Spinn & Taso
    Title: You Never Show Your Love
    Release year: 2015
     
    Artist(s): Cymande
    Title: Dove
    Release year: 1972
     
    Artist(s): Tokyo Prose
    Title: Trick of the Light
    Release year: 2018
     
    Artist(s): Cluekid
    Title: Dolphin
    Release year: 2013
     
    Artist(s): Jamiroquai
    Title: Virtual Insanity
    Release year: 1996
     
    Artist(s): MC Fava, A-Sides, Makoto, Sofi Mari
    Title: Reminder
    Release year: 2023
     
    Artist(s): Sticky
    Title: Triplets
    Release year: 2001
     
    Artist(s): ####
    Title: Doc001
    Release year: 2019
     
    Artist(s): Yasuha
    Title: Fly-day Chinatown
    Release year: 1981
     
    Artist(s): Lifelike
    Title: So Electric
    Release year: 2007
     
    Artist(s): The Pasadenas
    Title: New Love
    Release year: 1988
     
    Artist(s): Allen Matthews
    Title: Good Loving Care
    Release Year: 1970
     
    Artist(s): Suzanne Vega, D.N.A.
    Title: Tom's Diner
    Release year: 1990
     
    Artist(s): Jack Arel
    Title: May Be
    Release year: 1972
     
    Artist(s): McKinley Sandifer
    Title: You're A Winner Baby
    Release year: 1978
     
    Artist(s): London Elektricity
    Title: Song in the Key of Knife
    Release year: 1998
     
    Artist(s): Garpo
    Title: DubD8
    Release year: 2021
     
    Until next time!
  12. Espy

    What I'm listening To: Calibre, my beloved

    By Espy,


    Crate digging
    YES YES there's a thread for this stuff but I'd be there every day putting songs there and I'd rather not flood that place with just me posting...
    I listen to a lot of music. Like, a LOT! It's gotten so bad that any algorithm trying to recommend music to me that's similar to what I listen to has no idea what to give me 
    But, the more I've listened to a large variety of tunes, I've realized how silly it is to gatekeep genres. I understand having a preference- mine is anything revolving around the Breakbeat genre! Something I've learned is that every genre is derived from another. Some genres may seem wildly different from each other but, in reality, are much closer to each other than I originally thought.
    For instance, who here knew that Dubstep has loose roots in Funk? Yeah, sounds wild. But considering it came about as a "darker" variant of 2-step/UK Garage, and rave music in general, well... not too crazy now is it? (Context: breakbeats in many soul and funk records were sampled to create those rave hits. Which eventually evolved into dubstep. That's a long story which can be told about elsewhere.)
     
    So anyways, here I want to share every-so-often what I've been listening to lately. All of these will be linked to Youtube, mostly cuz of the "forgotten" vinyl rips that have never been digitized.
    This first post will be dedicated exclusively to Calibre! (Pronounced like the American spelling of "caliber", it's just the UK spelling of that word.)
    One of the first songs I heard from him had to have been his "Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Garden" remix. I felt like that was everywhere back then when it was released so it was inescapable. (And apparently any vinyl press of it is being scalped, sad.)
    His style typically lands under liquid drum and bass, but he's been known to stray away from that and do a little dubstep, house, downtempo, ambient, and some random piano tunes even.
    He's also very successful as a fairly independent music artist.
    I typically don't like to "stan" people but Calibre is such an inspiration for me, a budding music producer. He's not the reason for exploring music production for me (that would have to go to the brostep crowd of the 2010s and early pony musicians) BUT.... he (and Marcus Intalex as well, RIP) is the reason why I even began listening to a lot of music beyond what I typically listened to. When he talked about listening to a variety of genres at any time is a good thing, I found that to be completely right! Especially in the digital age where I can literally find anything online from almost any time period (given that it's been recorded).
    He also has done an interesting thing with his songs. Check out his "Shelflife" albums, where all of them are compilations of unreleased works from the past 20 years and into the future. There are lots of songs from him apparently where people have been dying to get their hands on a legit copy of a certain song that was maybe played a handful of times in the early 2000s and never played again after that. Or, saw any official release (digital, CD, and vinyl).
    I don't know any other artist that does this. Yeah, many will compile their most popular works under re-releases, but do they ever share what was never intended for release to begin with?  No, not really. The only other producer I can think of that kinda did that is J Dilla (RIP as well).
    Also, he's not really on social media much. Never has been beyond a bit of promotion before any release. It probably helps that he has a huge underground legacy.
     
    Without further ado. A playlist full of works from and remixed by Calibre, including his other pseudonyms and group collaborations. Just over 600 releases and counting, and these are just the ones I'm aware of. There are some that are missing/incorrect on YT but it's not like digital versions can't be purchased online from official stores for, like, a dollar or so. (vinyl is a different story )
    I recommend throwing it on shuffle. And yes, I do plan on keeping this playlist maintained any time I find something that isn't here or whatever else.
     
     
    Next time, do expect more variety from other artists and genres too! I destroyed my sleep schedule trying to get this together! 
    Thanks so much for reading!
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